{"id":30230,"date":"2023-04-04T19:49:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T09:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=30230"},"modified":"2023-05-15T06:09:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-14T20:09:54","slug":"easter-tennis-a-hit-as-thousands-hop-along-to-courts-across-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2023\/04\/04\/easter-tennis-a-hit-as-thousands-hop-along-to-courts-across-victoria","title":{"rendered":"Easter tennis a hit as thousands hop along to courts across Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The egg-citement of <strong>Easter tennis<\/strong> returns this long weekend with more than <strong>5000 players<\/strong> set to hit tennis clubs across Australia with up to <strong>30 regional and metropolitan tennis events<\/strong> kicking off from <strong>Friday 7 April 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Contested by legends of the game including <strong>Ken Rosewall<\/strong>, <strong>John Fitzgerald<\/strong>, <strong>Evonne Goolagong-Cawley<\/strong>, <strong>Neale Fraser<\/strong> and <strong>Roy Emerson<\/strong>, Easter tennis tournaments are long established and steeped in history, with many passing 50 years or even approaching centenary milestones, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club<\/strong> (Vic) will celebrate its 99<sup>th<\/sup> event this Easter, with more than 500 players registering early to compete<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Bridgetown Easter Tournament<\/strong> (WA) celebrates its 92<sup>nd<\/sup> year anniversary, with many three-generation family groups joining competitors from across Western Australia<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>2023 Open 3K Opal Advice 90<sup>th<\/sup> Toowoomba Easter Gold Cup<\/strong> (Qld) boasts a star-studded honour roll in its 90-year history, including <strong>Ken Rosewall<\/strong>, <strong>Roy Emerson<\/strong>, <strong>Ken Fletcher<\/strong>, <strong>Mal Anderson<\/strong>, <strong>Emily Westacott<\/strong>, <strong>Maude Molesworth<\/strong> and <strong>Scott Draper<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Nepean Easter Open <\/strong>(Penrith, NSW) celebrates its 57<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary with 563 entrants, the highest number of participants in its history<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Lucindale Easter Tennis Tournament<\/strong> (SA) is also celebrating 57 years, with more than 200 participants across 28 events expected to gather with friends and family to camp on site at the Lucindale Country Club<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hobart<\/strong> (Tas) will host the inaugural <strong>Domain Easter Championship<\/strong>, with local tennis identities, brothers <strong>Harry <\/strong>and<strong> Edward Bourchier<\/strong>, teaming up for doubles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A tradition for passionate tennis enthusiasts often made up of family and friendship groups,\u00a0 thousands make the annual tennis pilgrimage to unite at tennis clubs across Australia for a weekend of camaraderie\u00a0 and competition, with a side of chocolate Easter egg indulgence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese tournaments were a big part of the beginning of my journey in tennis,\u201d Australian tennis champion and former Davis Cup captain <strong>John Fitzgerald <\/strong>said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was always a big deal and a joy for me to tag along with my two older brothers and embrace the excitement, competition and friendships that developed during these times. Easter tournaments around country South Australia provided me with some of my fondest memories of tennis and were instrumental in building many friendships that have lasted to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEaster tennis is a true celebration of all the wonderful elements of grassroots tennis,\u201d Tennis Australia Chief Tennis Officer <strong>Tom Larner<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt encourages families and friends to come together on the tennis court and offers a wonderful opportunity for players and non-players to be connected by the sheer joy of being involved in tennis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese events bring communities together. Committee members, officials, canteen supervisors, grounds people, you name it, they all rally together for the betterment of the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone involved in these tennis events plays an important role in contributing to the fabric of our sport and it\u2019s wonderful to see so many people come together with the passion, commitment and dedication required to maintain and strengthen the position of our sport across Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSheep stations and bragging rights aside, it\u2019s these local tournaments that are the heart and soul of tennis in Australia. They demand respect through the history of their existence and are the breeding ground for lifelong participation and involvement in our wonderful sport which we know is a game for life regardless of age or ability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than <strong>58 officials<\/strong>, including referees, court supervisors, assistant referees, venue supervisors, chair umpires, line umpires, court monitors and coaches will work <strong>181 individual days<\/strong> to support the deliver of Easter tournaments in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Tennis Australia sanctioned Easter tournaments include the below:<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Victoria<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<table width=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\"><strong>Name<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"189\"><strong>Where<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"113\"><strong>Dates<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Eastern Region Easter Tennis Event<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Ringwood Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Cohuna Lawn Easter Tennis Event<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Cohuna Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Echuca Tennis Club Easter Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Echuca Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Kybram Lawn Tennis Club Easter Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Kyabram Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">2023 Open Community Maffra Lawn Tennis Club Easter event<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Maffra Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Nathalia Community Bank Easter Tennis Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Nathalia Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Robinvale Easter Event<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Robinvale Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club Easter Tournament*<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">St Arnaud Lawn Easter Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">St Arnaud &amp; District Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">88<sup>th<\/sup>\u202fAnnual Easter Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Yea Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">25-28 March<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Kerang Easter Carnival<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Kerang Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Mornington Junior and Wheelchair Easter Event<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Mornington Tennis Centre<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Murrabit Tennis Club Easter Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Murrabit \u00a0Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Myrtleford Lawn Tennis Easter Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Myrtleford Lawn Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"286\">Boort Tennis Easter Tournament<\/td>\n<td width=\"189\">Boort Tennis Club<\/td>\n<td width=\"113\">07-10 April<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>*<strong>Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club<\/strong> will celebrate its 99<sup>th<\/sup> event this Easter, after reaching its registration limit early with more than 500 players.<\/p>\n<p>The milestone tournament will go ahead thanks to a huge effort by the local tennis community to rebuild the club after it was severely flooded under 2 metres of water in late 2022, with all 26 courts repaired and ready for the big weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The egg-citement of Easter tennis returns this long weekend with more than 5000 players set to hit tennis clubs across Australia with up to 30 regional and metropolitan tennis events kicking off from Friday 7 April 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5595,"featured_media":29738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}